Ready to discover it? You will find the map at the end of the post.

This is the first recommendation you must keep in mind before starting a visit of the city. Anyway, let’s start to explore the most important landmarks. Please remember that this is not a chart, but only what you can see/do in 3 days in Sao Paulo.

1) Let’s start from the site where the city was founded, the Patio do Colegio, originally the church and the school founded by the Jesuits Manuel de Nobrega and Josè de Anchieta, in 1554.

Now you can access to the restaurant and see the first original wall of the Casa de Anquieta.

2) Not far from it, you can also visit the Catedral da Sè de Sao Paulo, the fifth largest Gothic cathedral in the world, built in 1589 and rebuilt again after 1911 after several modifications/renovations. The cathedral is for sure interesting as it present the classic simplicity of the gothic cathedrals. In the Cathedral square you can find the underground station, Sè.

3)Once left the church and if you walk along the Rua Boa Vista, you get to another historical building, that is the Mosteiro de Sao Bento ( Monastery of Sao Bento). This complex includes the Colegio de Sao Bento and the Basilica de Nostra Senhora de Assuncao.

Please do not forget to visit the church (also really simple and not too fancy) and if you are visiting it on Sunday at 10am, please do not miss the concert with the organ and Gregorian chants.

4) Not far from it, and always at a walking distance, you can get to the Museum Catavento (Catavento Cultural e Educacional), with its nice buiding, the old Palacio das Industrias built between 1911 and 1924. The museum has 4 sections (universe, life, society, creativity) and is an interactive one. Please remind that on Saturdays the museums in Sao Paulo are free of charge.

5) Then the itinerary goes through the Mercado municipal Paulistano, known as Mercadao, as one of the most important markets of the city. Here you can find local specialties and try delicious food and tropical fruit.

Here i recommend to try a coxinha, similar to the Italian “panzerotto” and filled with meat, and take also some beer served with ice (something never seen before).

6) Let’s take now the metro and go to the Avenida Paulista, the financial centre of the city, where you can find the highest skyscrapers, the banks and also nice liberty-style houses.

If you are fond of art you can also visit the Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo – Assis Chateaubriand.

7) Not far from the Avenida Paulista you can find several places to go and attractions: you can find the enchanting district of Vila Madalena, a district with nice restaurants, boheme bars where they play jazz or bossa nova. In particular, this district is the centre of the Sao Paulo’s street art. In particular, if you go to the Beco de Batman (Batman Alley), in Rua Goncalo Afonso. I will write a dedicated post to this stunning district, that I really loved.

8) Another interesting district, not far from the Avenida Paulista, is for sure the district of Jardins, elegant district with many skyscrapers, shops, restaurants and trendy bars and pubs. It is recommended to walk along Rua Oscar Freire.

9) Another beautiful place at approx. 3 km from the Avenida Paulista (30 min on walk), is the biggest park of the city centre, the famous Parque Ibirapuera (Ibirapuera Park), comparable to what a Central Park represents for New York. It has a big lake in the middle and several interesting buildings such as Museu Afrobrasil, Palacio das Exposicoes, the Planetarium, the Auditorium and the Japanese Pavillon. Because of the quantity of landmarks, I will also write a dedicated post.

10) Another interesting park is the Parque da Agua Branca – Doutor Fernando Costa, located in Barra Funda, a bit more local and enchanting with its tropical vegetation, villas, birds, arena with horse stables (a sort of hippodrome). On Saturday morning there is also a fair of biological agriculture. It is ideal to get some relax from the stress of this gigantic city.

11) Not far from the Parque da Agua Branca, there is another landmark, the Memorial da America Latina, that represents the story of Latin America, from the tribes to the arrival of the European countries and finally the independence. It is a political, leisure and cultural complex inaugurated in 1989 and designed by the architect Oscar Niemeyer.

12) Eating in a shopping mall: Part of the life of the people of Sao Paulo that I noticed is that there are many shopping centres around the city and one feature I saw for sure was that at lunch time these areas are totally crowded. The shopping malls have different kind of restaurants ( from fast food to gourmets): you can go to the luxury ones of Higienopolis or try simple food restaurants that have a superb meat, potato filled with any ingredient you want, delicious smoothies, ice cream shops and many more.

13)The nightlife: well you cannot skip this part. Sao Paulo has a vibrant nightlife that offers you almost anything you want – pubs, latin clubs, trendy bars and lounge bars, rock bars,etc. In particular, I recommend the beautiful Skye Bar.

Other nice options are for sure the rock bar Dublin in Vila Olimpia or The Blue Pub in Bela Vista. Important: in some bars they ask for your credit card number, or identity card and passport and you get a drink card. Before going out you must pay the amount. Do not lose the drink card!

Map: click on the top left to see the days and/or on the top right to enlarge the map.